You’d be hard-pressed to find another handheld that embraces the idea of form over function as much as the Anbernic RG Vita. A handheld whose name evokes fond memories of Sony’s final entry into the handheld market (for now), and yet cannot play titles from that system in any meaningful way. It looks the part, but that’s about it.
I have recently written about three different devices, all clearly aiming at the same mid-budget PSP-minded customer. I have thoughts. And I’ll call it here if you don’t feel like reading my reasoning why, but I believe the Mangmi Air X will easily take the crown when comparing the latest entries in the world of PSP machines.
The Screens Simply Don’t Compare
The Mangmi Air X’s 1080p IPS panel is superior to the other two handhelds. It isn’t close. Forgetting for a moment that the other two screens are only 720P, the Mangmi’s Snapdragon processor just does a nicer job when compared to something like the Anbernic’s T618 and its aggressive oversharpening and artifacting.
The RG52 Mini’s screen ends up looking better than Anbernic’s offering as well. The colors aren’t as washed out to my eye as they appear on the RG Vita. And even if it was the opposite, at least the RG52 Mini isn’t trying to pretend to be something that it isn’t.
The PS Vita’s OLED screen was something of a legend for the time that it was released. You can’t evoke its name some 15 years later and deliver something that looks far worse. It feels dishonest.
Build Quality
This is a section that I wasn’t expecting to have to write when I first saw the RG Vita, but I don’t think I’m alone when I say: it feels cheap. Having owned an original Vita, there’s a heft to it that your brain is expecting when it first approaches the RG Vita. Not only does it lack that heft, but the whole shell has a distinctly hollow feeling. It’s difficult to explain without having held the device, but trust me when I say you’ll understand as soon as you pick the RG Vita up off the desk.
Sure, the Anbernic RG Vita looks premium, but that’s only because it’s borrowing from your own memories of an actual premium device. Appearances can be deceiving, and deception is practically built into the device just by calling it the Vita.
The RG52 Mini doesn’t feel like a premium device, but it isn’t trying to come across as one. I’ll take a bold design style that overperforms on my expectations vs something that looks slick, but has minimal utility.
Performance
I don’t want to rehash the raw numbers, but check out Ban’s RG Vita review for his take and included benchmarks. What matters most for the purposes of this article is feel, and I can say that I’ve consistently felt performance dips from the Anbernic that the Mangmi’s Snapdragon 662 just doesn’t produce. Regardless of specs on paper, and be it due to driver development or other factors, the Mangmi Air X just feels better when you’re playing games. That can’t be quantified.
The RG Vita’s T618 is an old chip at this point, and for them to re-release it in a configuration with less RAM than how it appeared on the RG505 is straight up baffling. I can’t help but feel that this device was purposely held back to make the upcoming pro seem more impressive.
The RG52 Mini and its Rockchip RK3562 are the wildcard in this segment. While the AISLPC has a 1GB/2GB RAM variant split, less than the 3GB of the Anbernic, and the 4GB of the Mangmi, respectively. Since the RG52 Mini is running Linux, though, it doesn’t have any of the overhead that the Android systems carry. It makes the device much more capable than it might appear when compared with the other two on paper, and with that, it warms my heart.
Value
This comparison doesn’t work if these devices were from three different price categories, but despite how different the internals are of each handheld, the prices of all three are right in that $80-$100 range. Work the sales, and you can do even better.
The RG52 Mini delivers on its vision and does so well. If you want a Linux PSP option with HDMI out for a reasonable price, the RG52 Mini isn’t going to let you down. Any gripes I may have had about the function buttons being less-than-ideal aside, it’s a great device for the money.
The RG Vita is a beautiful design hamstrung by cost constraints and aging hardware. With the RG Vita Pro already announced as coming right around the corner, I’m not sure where the value in the RG Vita lies. Its performance and hardware don’t match the lofty promises of the console’s design inspiration, and its name feels like deceptive marketing. They could have easily used some variation on “PSP” without breaking trademark rights or just saying “screw it, we’ll just call it Vita because we can”.
The Mangmi Air X offers the best screen, the best performance, and the most versatility for your money. If you care about visual quality and want a device that can handle modern emulation and does a brilliant job of game streaming, it’s the obvious choice.
Final Verdict
If you’re in the market for a $80-$100 handheld with a PSP-style form factor, the Mangmi Air X is my easy winner between these three devices. The Air X brings the screen, the streaming, the power, and the overall versatility to put it on a pedestal over its competition.
The AISLPC RG52 Mini is a noble device, and deserves praise for being the newer kid on the scene and achieving what it has with this handheld. If you can score a deal on a unit at a lower price, I’d feel comfortable saying there’s plenty of decent fun to be had, especially if you’re looking for a simple TV-out solution.
The RG52 Mini absolutely delivers, but just comes up slightly short when stood up next to the Mangmi Air X. I’d still take it over the Anbernic all day long just for the hall effect triggers. It’s a difference maker in Dreamcast games that helped usher in the era of analog triggers.
This, of course, leaves us with the RG Vita. It’s not that I can’t recommend the latest Anbernic; it’s just that I don’t understand why they do what they do sometimes. This is a reasonably capable device, if a bit dated, and it makes promises that it can’t keep. The whole thing feels like a bit of an odd proposition in 2026.
